Armed tank construction



Oct. 14, 1941. 'M POCHE 2,258,939

ARMED TANK CONSTRUCTION Filed Oct. 2, 1939 Patented Get. 4, 1941UNITED-"STATES PATEN OFFlCEf ARMED TANK CONSTRUCTION John Morris Poche,Gulfport, Miss., assignor of one-haIf-to Lucas Vaccaro, New Orleans, La.

Application October 2, 1939, Serial No. 297,603

ZClaims. (CI. 89-40) This invention relates to' improvements in armedtank constructions] One object of the invention is to provide a turretconstruction for tanks in which the ordnance carried by the tank can beadjusted to fire in practically any direction.

A further object of the invention is to provide a turret constructionfor tanks wherein the operator for the ordnance will be amply protected.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a turret forarmedtanks so constructed that a gun projecting through the side thereofmay be moved to any DOsition around the tank.

- Still another object is to provide a. tank turret with agun'projecting through the top thereof which may be fired not onlyupwardly, but forwardly, rearwardly or toward either side of the turretor, in other words, this gun can also be revolved throughout an entirecircle.

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

As the present invention deals solely with the construction of theturret, th major portion of the body ID of the tank is not shown. Theturret itself is composed of vertically spaced upper and lower sectionsII, l2, the lower section [2 being rigidl mounted on the body ill of thetank, while the upper section II is rigidly supported from the tank bodyby standards [3. A gun it is adaptedto be mounted in the interior oftheturret, with the barrel thereof projecting outwardly through thespace between the upper and lower sections ll, I2, of the turret.Preferably,

.gun I4 is pivotally mounted to swing in'a 'vertical plane and is alsomounted whereby it .can be revolved within the turret so as to bedirected in any line desired throughout the entire periphery of theturret. In other words, the carriage for the gun is 50 supported thatthe gun can be swung entirely around the turret. In the presentinstance, this is accomplished by forming a way or track E5 on the lowersection top of the turret. In other words, the top sur-. 7

I: of the turret, in which rollers it on a car- 5 5 retgthrou h whichthe gun extends.

' To further facilitate attacks with the tank,

riage I! are received. The gun is pivotally supported on this carriageas by a'pivotal connection It. As usual, a suitable seat l9 is providedin the interior for the operator.

To fully protect the operator, a suitable shield or protective coveringis provided for the space between the upper and lower sections of thetur- This protective pl te or covering must, of course, not interferewith the movement of the gun around I the turret and, in thepreferredconstruction, these protective devices comprise a ring-likemember 20 rotatably supported on upper and lower ways 2|, 22,anti-friction elements 23 preferably being interposed between the ring20 and said ways. Ring 20 is provided with an aperture 24 through whichthe gun projects and, rotatably supported, in this opening is a closureplate 25, preferably of circular formation. If desired, this closureplate may be provided with a reversely disposed portion 25 1 so as toembrace the apertured portion of ring'20. This revoluble plate 25 isformed with a still smaller opening for the gun and, to substantiallyentirely close the turret at this point, there i a plate or shield 26 onthe gun. barrel which overlies the space between the barrel and the wallof the opening in cover plate 25. Due to the fact that closure plate 25is carried on ring member 20, the gun can b readily tilted with respectto the ring and, by reason of the fact that the ring itself is rotatablysupported-on the turret, the gun, of .course, can be moved entirelyaround the turret so as to be fired inany' desired direction, forwardlyor aft or sidewise of the tank.

a second gun is provided within the turret and so mo ted as to projectoutwardly through-the face of the upper section I l is provided with anaperture 21 in which there is rotatably carried a closure 28 similar inconstruction to the closure 25, in that it comprises reversely bentportions and is formed with an aperture '29 through which the barrel ofthe gun 30 projects. To fully close the space between the wall of thisopening 29 and the gun barrel, a shield 3| is provided on the gun barrelso that, regardless of the direction in which the gun may be directedthrough the top of the turret, the opening 21 in the turret will befully closed to protect the-operator.

In the interior of the turret, the upper section II is formed with acircular 'track or way 32 which may be in the form of a rack,- and thegun is swiveled on a plate 33 mounted on a cylinder 34 journaled on across-member 35 which is mounted in a carriage adapted to be rotatedaround the track 32. For instance, the carriage may consist of rollers36 disposed at opposite sides of the tiack 32, these rollers, supportinglinks'S'I which, in turn, support the {cross-member 35. The cross-member35 has, at least at one end, a pinion 38, adapted to mesh with the teethof track 32 and, it desired, a hand-wheel 39 may be provided oncross-member 35 so that, by rotating the latter, the carriage will becaused to roll around the track 32 until the gun is brought in line withthe target. Thus, by reasonv of the fact that the gun carriage can beturned throughout an entire circle on the track 32 and the gun can berocked on the cross-member 35, as well as swung on the plate 33, it canbe aimed or directed at a target above the turret, either forwardly, orrearwardly, or at the sides of the tank. This mounting of the gunpermits it to be trained on a target, regardless of the relativeposition of the targetabove the tank. At the same time, the operator isfully protected so far as concerns the opening in the top of the turretfor the gun because, as previously pointed out, the cover plate 21 isrotatably supported in the opening in the upper section of the turretand the shield 3|, carried on the gun barrel, closes whatever spacethere might be between the gun barrel and said closure plate.

With the turret construction such as described, the operator can attackor resist attack, regardless of the relative position of the target withrespect to the tank, either horizontally or vertically.

What "1 claim is:

rigid upper section, a circular way including a continuous rack formedin said section, a gunsupport mounted on said circular way andpineludinga pinion meshing with said rack, a shaft on which said pinion ismounted, means for rotating said shaft to revolve the gun-su p rt aroundthe turret and a gun pivotally mounted on said gun-support, said section0! the turret having an opening therein located axially of said circularrack .through which the barrel of said gun projects.

2. A turret for motor vehicles comprising fixed, vertically spaced upperand lower side wall sections, a gun support within the turret, means forpivotally mounting a gun on said support with the gun barrel projectingoutwardly through the space between said wall sections, a lateral flangeon each of said upper and lower wall sections, a circular way formed inthe flange of the lower wall section, said gun support being revolublearound the turret in said way, a circular closure member for the spacebetween said wall sections rotatably supported by said flanges, therebeing an opening for the gun barrel in said closure, said closure andgun being revoluble around said 4 turret in unison with one another, anda shield substantially closing the opening in said closure, said shieldhaving reversely bent portions embracing opposite sides of said closurearound said opening. I

JOHN MORRIS POCHE.

